IDOC Turnaround Policy

More than a dozen public policy and justice reform advocates have asked the Illinois Supreme Court to order an end to a "Kafkaesque" state policy that has resulted in the needless incarceration of thousands of Illinoisans eligible for parole but unable to afford housing approved by the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC).

For nearly 10 years, the IDOC and the Illinois Prisoner Review Board have used a "turnaround" policy to keep thousands of individuals, most of them originally imprisoned for a sex offense, in prison solely because they cannot afford to live in housing IDOC finds adequate with little to no explanation to the incarcerated and no way to appeal that decision.

"This policy subjects citizens of this State who are no longer serving a prison sentence to months and even years of detention, without redress or remedy," according to the brief submitted by attorneys for the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center and Uptown People's Law Center.